CONTEMPORARY EURASIA VOLUME VIII (1) ContemporaryEurasia81 | Page 84

STRATEGIES ON TERRITORIAL ACQUISITION- A CASE STUDY ON THE PEDRA …
acceptable because of its chance of acquiring sovereignty over Pedra Branca
was comparatively certain.
Gradual resolution
The strategy of gradually resolving the dispute adopted by Singapore
was de facto not clearly mentioned in either stage of the procedure of
contacts and negotiations between the two claimants. However, as seen from
the content of the 2003 special agreement, Singapore and Malaysia
consented to submit the dispute regarding sovereignty over these three islets
to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) while laying the dispute of
territorial waters aside. Apparently, according to the practices of the parties,
the resolution procedure of the Pedra Branca dispute was divided into two
chronological parts: the islets and then the related territorial waters.
Moreover, technically speaking, the first stage of this dispute has not
concluded yet because the legal status of the South Ledge remains
undecided. The joint technical committee, which was set up by Singapore
and Malaysia according to the 2008 Judgement, has been operating the
maritime delimitation of this region for about 10 years.
There was not enough reports or archives that helped explain the
reason why they decided to gradually resolve the Pedra Branca dispute. It
can only be inferred from the result of these two claimants’ compromise
after years of negotiations that no matter which party first mentioned the
idea of gradual resolution, both of them seemed to agree on this approach
without hesitation. For Singapore, the Pedra Branca dispute is so
complicated that it could not be resolved completely, considering the
evidence that each party could provide. Apparently, the advantage of a
gradual resolution to the Pedra Branca dispute is that a preliminary outcome
of the dispute could help prevent potential conflict generated after the
probable consequence of both parties not being able to reach a final plan of
integrated division regarding these territories, no matter what the final result
would be. In this case, the preliminary outcome means the attribution of the
two islands. A preliminary outcome of this dispute also limited further acts
of either party because both Singapore and Malaysia could not bear the
accusation of not complying with the international law if either of them
adopted violent methods to deal with the remaining disputes, once they were
bound by the 2003 special agreement and the 2008 judgment.
The second reason why the parties in this case, especially Singapore,
adopted the plan of gradual resolution, is that they intended maintain
favorable bilateral relations. Singapore is geographically the smallest
country in this region. It has to rely on its neighbors such as Malaysia for
cooperation on regional economics and security. This limited Singapore’s
choice of policy when facing the Pedra Branca dispute. Singapore was able
to manifest its friendly posture to the most extent by revealing its will to
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